US high court declines to hear Engle progeny challenge

10 Jun 2014.
The US Supreme Court declined to hear appeals by RJ Reynolds Tobacco and Lorillard to review a group of rulings by Florida state courts in so called Engle progeny cases, Reuters said.

The current basket of cases turned away by the court amount to more than USD 70 million (EUR 51.4 million) in damage awards, mostly against RJ Reynolds, according to Reuters. The US high court in the past has let Engle progeny rulings stand.

A class-action suit in the state of Florida bearing the name of deceased smoker Howard Engle is the root for the progeny cases. An initial award of USD 145 billion was overturned by the Florida high court in 2006, but plaintiffs were allowed to use the evidence pool on the adverse health impact of smoking to pursue individual claims.